Come and explore stunning Stowe House
The State Rooms
Visitors to the House today can view eight state rooms which were part of the suite of rooms on display to the public in the late 18th century. Built along a line, or enfilade, of inter-connecting doors, the rooms were designed to look across over the South Front of the Gardens. The rooms were not for everyday use and only used for special occasions, mainly for visiting royalty.
The memoirs of an estate tenant, Elizabeth George, writing after Queen Victoria's three-day visit in January 1845, mentions 15 rooms "all gilded and so full of expensive furniture that it made the rooms look like furniture warehouses"! This penchant for collecting expensive pieces of furniture and ornaments - both at Stowe House and four of the 2nd Duke's other properties - led eventually to the Great Sale of 1848. (see below)
Piano Nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of large houses mainly built in the Neo-Classical style and traditionally contained the principal state reception and bedrooms of the house. It was often the first or sometimes the second floor, located above a basic ground floor containing minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons for this were so the rooms could have finer views, and more practically to avoid damp.
This is true of Stowe House, whose piano nobile is on the first floor to give it height and the views it deserves. The present State Rooms were laid out in the 1770s, most of which looked over the South Front, forming the enfilade (line of rooms linked by connecting doors) running from east to west and considered to be the longest in England. The Marble Saloon forms the central State Room with the rest of the rooms placed symmetrically either side of it (see plan below).
The Marble Saloon
The replicas of four gilded Athéniennes and eight classical statues that were once displayed in the niches of the Marble Saloon from 1774 until the sale of 1842 were officially unveiled on the 18th September 2009. Thus completing the restoration of the Saloon itself, once again fulfilling the role intended, as a sculpture gallery.
George Grenville in 1774 shipped seven full-size statues plus a seated one from Italy. Further additions to the collection were made by his son and grandson creating “a collection of marbles … inferior to few north of the Alps” (George Grenville). The figures were subsequently scattered as a result of the sale of 1848.
The eight plaster statues of classical subjects were made from suitable casts that reflected the aesthetics of the originals from the Gipsformerei division of the Staatliche museums in Berlin. The figures include Hygiea the Greek goddess of health (from whose names comes the word “hygiene”) the original having stood in the Marble Saloon between 1788-1817. She is the daughter of the God Aesculapius, mythical god of medicine, whose staff had a snake curled around it. Similarly, Hygiea carries her snake companion to be used for healing. Also present is a typical Roman senator in his toga, with scroll now stands where a statue of the goddess Diana did between 1832-1848. The cast was made of an original 1st Century AD Roman statue found in Rome. The head was added later and is modelled on Julius Caesar.
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The two Great Sales
While it was not uncommon to see great men fall in the nineteenth century, Stowe has suffered twice from the expensive tastes of its owners, rooted in the ambitious building plans of the eighteenth century. While Earl Temple (owner 1749 - 1779) spent most of his life here on a building site, it was the 1st Duke whose frivolous attitude towards money led to his wife sending him abroad for two years to reduce his spending. His son, the 2nd Duke, completely redesigned the State Rooms in the hope that Queen Victoria would eventually visit. She finally did, with Prince Albert, in early January 1845. The Duke was already in debt for £1.1 million (at that time) and by 1848 was forced to sell the contents of the House and Gardens. Raising a mere £75,000, the family never really recovered.
The second sale came about in 1922 when the estate, having been sold by the last heiress to a property developer who was unable to pass it across to the nation without an endowment, was separated from the contents once more. The contents were sold off and sent literally all over the world. Certain pieces can still be found in museums and galleries around the globe.
The empty shell was then purchased by a group of men, the Allied Schools Group, looking to start up a new public school - thus Stowe School was born. Undoubtedly this purchase prevented the House being pulled down and the land sold off.
Interpretation Centre
New to Stowe House since July 2005, the Interpretation Centre chronologically tells the story of the rise and fall of the Temple-Grenville family and the development of the House itself. Panels with text and pictures explain how the Temple family rose from being sheep farmers to Dukes in 150 years and how they built a palace to match their rise up the social ladder. With a computer-generated evolution of the House, a touch screen audio-visual on the restoration of the Marble Saloon, and some children's activities including dressing up clothes, there is something to help everyone understand and appreciate the importance of Stowe House.
The Interpretation Centre can be found at the end of the tour of the State Apartments and is only open during the School holidays.